The Warm Home Discount gets you £150 off your electricity bill to help with energy costs. Find out if your supplier is in the scheme and how to get the payment.
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Millions of households can receive a Warm Home Discount grant of £150 (previously £140) to pay for electricity costs.
Loads of energy companies take part.
The discount is added to your energy account to pay for extra costs you face over the winter months.
Read on to find out if your supplier takes part and how you receive the payment.
What is Warm Home Discount scheme?
Before winter 2022, the payment used to be £140 one-off discount, and you had to apply directly to your provider when applications opened in October. Applications were managed on a first-come, first-served basis, and unfortunately, many missed out on receiving payment at all.
With the Warm Home Discount Scheme from 2022 onwards, you receive a one-off payment of £150 directly as a credit on your electricity bill.
It doesn’t matter if you have a smart meter, pay monthly, pre-pay, or pay as you go energy meter.
The payments show as a discount on your energy bills rather than paid as cash to you. Or, if you have a pre-pay meter, you will get a top-up voucher.
If you have your gas bill and electricity with the same supplier, they may allow you to add it to your gas meter.
Your energy supplier will pay the credit into your energy bills account any time from October to March.
Also see: 50 ways to save money on energy bills without switching
Warm Home Discount 2023
The Warm Home Discount for 2023 is closed.
If you are eligible for a payment, you will receive it before 31 March 2024 directly from your electricity supplier as a credit to your energy account.
For anyone living in Scotland, you need to apply directly to your supplier ASAP.
If you live in a Park Home, applications are still being processed (see the FAQs below)
When does the 2024 Warm Home Discount scheme open?
The Warm Home Discount scheme starts in October 2024.
In England and Wales, if you do not receive a letter from HM Government by 31st December 2024, this means you are not eligible and will not receive the Warm Home Discount Rebate.
For Scotland, you will need to apply from autumn.
We will update this guide when full details have been released later in the year.
How do I apply for Warm Home Discount?
England and Wales
Before 2022, there were two categories:
- “Broader group scheme” who needed to make an application directly to their supplier
- “Core Group” that received the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit and automatically qualified to receive the discount
Things have changed from 2022 onwards.
You no longer need to apply directly for a Warm Home Discount.
You will receive a rebate automatically towards your energy bills, provided you are considered to be in a household with the most need.
Scotland
If you live in Scotland and are in the “broader group,” you will still need to apply.
There are two categories:
Core Group 1
This is the same as the previous core group, with people who are of pensionable age and receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit on the qualifying date (21 August 2022) will be eligible.
This group will get a letter from the government as before.
Core Group 2
The government is now matching their data to find out eligible households for Core Group 2.
They are looking to match things such as property age, type and floor area as well as tested benefits data.
This should match households with the highest energy costs and the lower household incomes.
Households who are eligible will receive a letter from the government by 31 December 2022.
If you do not get a letter, you will not receive the Warm Home Discount rebate.
One of the reasons that Scotland has not moved to the same scheme as England and Wales is because Scotland does not have an equivalent Valuations Office Agency that can understand if a household has higher energy costs.
What if I don’t agree with the Government’s decision?
If you did not get a letter and still think you are eligible for the Warm Home Discount, you can challenge their assessment.
The government is setting up a dedicated hotline, and you need to provide a valid energy performance certificate to price you have higher energy costs.
Their helpline number is 0800 731 0214 (open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
When we have further details on this, we will update you with more information.
Which energy companies offer Warm Home Discount?
Here are the energy companies that offer the warm home discount for 2022/2023.
For Scottish applications, you will need to apply directly from October/November 2023.
- E (Gas and Electricity) – more details
- E.ON (including NPower) – more details
- Scottish Power – more details
- British Gas – more details
- EDF – more details
- Boost – more details
- Octopus Energy (including Affect Energy, Co-op Energy, London Power, M&S Energy, Qwest Energy, Roar Power) – more details
- OVO Energy – more details
- SSE – more details
- Shell Energy (including Green Star Energy) – more details
- Utility Warehouse – more details
- So Energy – more details
- Utilita – more details
What if my energy company has gone bust?
If your energy company has gone bust, Ofgem, the energy regulator, will move you to a new supplier.
This process can take a couple of weeks.
If you applied for the Warm Home Discount before they went bust but didn’t get the payment, you would need to apply again with your new energy supplier.
If the new supplier doesn’t offer it, you can switch to a supplier who does.
Frequently asked questions about the Warm Home Discount
Since 2020, a supplier needs to have at least 150,000 customers to be part of the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Before this, the supplier needed to have more than 250,000 customers.
Some smaller suppliers can volunteer to be part of the scheme even if they have fewer customers.
Energy companies will apply the rebate to your account by 31 March.
While millions of households are eligible, previously, the number of discounts is limited so you have to apply early, so you don’t miss out.
However, since winter 2022, if you are eligible and live in England or Wales, you will automatically receive the payment.
If you live in Scotland, you still need to apply.
The money is paid directly to your energy bill between October and March.
You no longer need to directly apply for a Warm Home Discount or contact your energy supplier to receive the discount, if you live in England or Wales. The government is matching eligible households.
The energy suppliers fund the scheme.
Around 2.2 million households in Great Britain can receive a Warm Home Discount.
Supplies aren’t able to transfer the Warm Home Discount between each other.
If you have applied for a Warm Home Discount, you need to stay with your supplier until the payment has been made. After this, you can look at switching suppliers without losing money.
The Warm Home Discount of £150 includes VAT. The rebate will show as lower on your energy bill as it’s before VAT, and VAT will get added later.
If you live in a park home, the scheme is managed differently.
You can find more information about support here.
Warm Home Discount eligibility
The scheme is run differently for each of the electricity suppliers.
To give you an idea of eligibility, for one provider, you need to be meet one of the following for the broader group:
- Income Related Employment Support Allowance;
- Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance;
- Income Support; or
- receive Universal Credit and has earned income between zero and £1,349 in at least one of the twelve preceding assessment periods.
or, if the following apply you may also qualify, if
- Your total gross household income is less than £16,190
AND your household also meets at least one of the following criteria:
There is a child permanently living in your household who:
- is 5 years or under ; or
- is 18 years or under in full time education ; or
- Is entitled to free school meals;
You or another member of your household:
- receives Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit which includes a disability element or severe disability element, disabled child element or severely disabled child element or family element or UC Equivalent;
- receives an Income Related Benefit which includes a disabled child premium, disability premium, severe disability premium, enhanced disability premium or UC Equivalent;
- is in receipt of the limited Capability for work and work-related activity as construed in accordance with regulations 39 and 40 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013(a);
- receives Pensioner Premium, Higher Pensioner Premium or Enhanced Pensioner Premium;
- receives Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP); Incapacity Benefit or Attendance Allowance;
- is aged 65 or over;
- your household’s annual energy spend is, more than 10% of the annual income.
Criteria from Scottish Power
Electricity suppliers may need to see evidence to support your broader group application.
Other energy providers might use different qualifying eligibility, so check with them to be sure.
Previous Warm Home Discount Suppliers
The following suppliers were part of the scheme for the winter of 2020 to 2021. However, some of them have since stopped trading or have moved under the ownership of another company.
- Affect Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Atlantic – see SSE
- Boost
- Bristol Energy – only if you’re eligible for the ‘core group’
- British Gas
- Co-op Energy – see Octopus Energy
- E (Gas and Electricity)
- E.ON
- Ecotricity – only if you’re eligible for the ‘core group’
- EDF Energy
- Green Energy UK (GEUK) – only if you’re eligible for the ‘core group’
- iSupply Energy – see EDF Energy
- Green Star Energy – see Shell Energy
- London Power – see Octopus Energy
- Lumo – see OVO
- M&S Energy – see Octopus Energy
- npower
- nPower Select – see E.ON Next
- Octopus Energy
- OVO
- Qwest Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Roar Power – see Octopus Energy
- Scottish Hydro – see SSE
- ScottishPower
- Shell Energy
- So Energy
- Southern Electric – see SSE
- SSE
- Swalec – see SSE
- Tonik Energy – see ScottishPower
- Utility Warehouse
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Liz says
If we can’t apply for the winter fuel discount due to being in limbo, we may miss out. It’s not fair that we should be ‘punished’ for reasons beyond our control.
Will there be any safety net in place.
Naomi Willis says
I’m not sure where in the limbo you are? If you are waiting on a new supplier, it should be sorted in less than two weeks from when the announcement was made. Fingers crossed they offer the WHD (and they can do you a good deal on energy) so you don’t have to switch again too soon. As a lot of people are in the same position, there will be lots who aren’t able to apply straight away.
Jilly says
What happens with WHD for those using a coin meter and not having an account with an energy company (because landlord ‘owns’ the meter)? Or if they do have an account with the energy company but still use coins to top up… is there any way they can have tokens to physically add into their meter? or money credited to their bank account???
Naomi Willis says
The Warm Home Discount is provided by the energy company. If you don’t have a direct relationship with them as a customer, I don’t believe you will be able to get it. It’s worth conversing with Citizens Advice to see what they can suggest.